I retired from the Prichard Fire Department after 32 years. I was proud to carry on a family tradition, since my father also served with the fire department. Our world changed when Prichard stopped paying us our pension checks.

Retirees are upset and did not want to sign for a reduced benefit, but we had no real choice. It is a shame when you feel forced to accept something that you know is not right. Except for our attorney, nobody has really stepped in to help us with this issue. We have been left hanging out to dry by not only Prichard, but government officials whom we felt would stand behind us.

When Detroit had the same underfunding situation in its pension, the state made the city hire an outside financial adviser.

The state of Alabama should have done the same, and we are disappointed that state officials have distanced themselves from this situation. They have allowed Prichard to get by with treating us this way.

I note that before each meeting, the council members and city officials, including the mayor, bow their heads and say a prayer to God. They ask that God lead them in making sound decisions for the struggling city. I wonder if they are honest in their attempt to make moral decisions. I just don’t see how they can live every week with seeing and hearing from people they have harmed by their own incompetence and neglect of duty.

DONALD MOSLEY

Leroy

Government functions we might not miss

The April 17 letter by Slade Watson ("Government duties we might miss") was very thought-provoking.

Only dirt roads without the federal government? This assumes state and local governments have no role whatsoever in road paving.

Child labor laws? Without them, I might have landed the late-shift copy-boy job I applied for at 16 at the Press-Register.

Dangerous foods without the FDA? The FDA currently allows hundreds of additives and preservatives in our food (on its "generally recognized as safe" list) which are not safe at all.

Gasoline at $35 per gallon? I thought that’s what all you hyper-left-wing, save-the-planet types wanted, so as to get us all out of our fuel-burning vehicles and back into eco-friendly horsedrawn carriages (assuming we could clear that with PETA).

Patented medicines? That’s what we have now. Nutritional supplement and herbal cures for our deadly diseases are not available (in many cases banned outright) precisely because they work, but can’t be patented and thus make no megabucks for Big Pharma.

Don’t believe me? Read "100 Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About," by Kevin Trudeau, or "Knockout" by actress and cancer survivor Suzanne Somers. Or just Google the word "Laetrile."

In health care, as in so many other areas, government is the problem, not the solution.

DELBERT BURROUGHS

Mobile

Bin Laden’s death is not the end of evil

Yes, Osama bin Laden is dead, but what, specifically, does that mean? Are the killing and the terror he advocated and helped manufacture over? Is America no longer the "great Satan"? Will the recruiting (even in America) for his death squads cease?

Will violence, hatred, killing and the destruction of homes and families cease because this man is dead? Will the use of drugs that are destroying thousands of lives be stopped? What about war?

Will all peoples of all nations now choose to live in peace? Will wars come to an end? Will we be able to walk our streets safely? Can "law and order" become more than a slogan or a TV title? Will "Love thy neighbor" now automatically become a reality? Will politicians begin to tell the truth? Will all judges judge without respect to persons?

My answer to all these questions is a resounding no.

The reason I say no is that we have an enemy much worse than bin Laden could ever hope to be. The enemy is called Satan, the Devil, the Evil One, Beelzebub and the Deceiver.

This enemy is at war with each of us, day and night. This evil spirit cannot be defeated by the Navy SEALs, the Army, Air Force or the Marines, but by a man called Jesus.